The post explores the concept of "mythoscopy," which examines how traditional stories evolve over time, using the tales of Rāma and Krishna as focal points. It highlights Shabari's story within the Rāmāyana, showcasing its transformation from simple devotion to a powerful symbol of equality. This adaptability is crucial for enduring narratives.
The village clearing buzzed with murmurs as Bhaskar, the farmer, arrived, hefting his worn hoe over his shoulder. Thick-set and sun-darkened, he looked every bit the weathered laborer, whose strength and weariness were born of the soil. He was already tired of what he expected tonight—a ritual of tales and chants too fantastic for his … Continue reading Of Desire and the Ordinary: Tale of Vena and Prithu
Beneath the vast canopy of the banyan tree, Ratnakar stood with a grin, his friends crowding around him. They had watched him recast history as he saw fit, now catching a glimpse of the grandiose story he envisioned. “So, let me get this right,” said Arjun, chuckling. “Rama’s campaign across the Dakshina Desha will be … Continue reading The Making of a Legend
In the bustling courtyard of the Vishwanath Temple in Kashi, pilgrims and scholars gathered, their voices mixing in a vibrant cacophony. Aniruddha, a young monk in ochre robes, stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with conviction. “Shankaracharya teaches us that the world is an illusion!” he proclaimed. “Our true nature is one with Brahman!” Vidyadhar, a … Continue reading The Discourse at Kashi: Heretic or Saint
In the dimly lit scriptorium, a hush fell over a group of scribes gathered around palm leaves and pots of ink. The head scribe, Kumaraswami, held up his quill, his gaze drifting thoughtfully as he prepared to lead the transcription of Valmiki’s Ramayana. Yet tonight’s work held an unusual burden: recent orders from the court … Continue reading This May Not Be True
In the sixth of the UGLIE series, we throw caution to air and go further on the story of the third brother, of the Two Brothers who were the "fathers" of the Warring Cousins of the M-Story. | Do read, comment and discuss. Share but beware! | Word Count: 1592 | Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 5.7 |
Shooting the air with a few friends, erstwhile batchmates, and then-still colleagues found uncanny parallels between geo-political, corporate and historical power shenanigans. Mythoscopy being my eternal hang-up, found the best fit as the Vikram-Betaal framing; i.e an overarching story, with one character narrating a story, with a query at the end, with the narrated story, and query, having a connection with the overarching story as well as having two-level moral learning for the final listener, i.e. us (go read the original.. it is awesome). This one has three confusing (confused) layers; (i) Superficial Corporate layer, of a pre-final VC round of a wannabe-unicorn startup, (ii) Parallel Geo-Political layer, of a dictator trying to get the sheen of being democratically elected/re-elected, and (iii) Reference Historical layer of the pre-, during-, and immediately-post-Emergency rule of Indira G. This is collaboration with @Curiouser&Curiouser | Do read, comment and discuss. Share but beware! | Word Count: 2596
A quick piece on partisanship with an extremely opinionated and shallowly researched hypothesis, informed by reading comic books, history books and WhatsApp messages of smarter, surer batchmates of mine | Do read, comment and discuss. Share but beware! | Word Count: 1503 | Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 5.7 |
In this eighth chapter of B2B, we explore a lesser known incident, which though in an important part of the original R-Story (enter-the-jungle-milestone) is "almost" never detailed in the myriad retellings. There is an attempt to make a statement about media control, and narrative changes. Some parallels with the incident that truly ignited the public opinion about the BLM movement have been accentuated. One character's dialogues are exclusively texts from tweets of a personage with "yuge" fan-following. The character shares the first name of this "classy" paragon of virtue. No disrespect meant, neither to the past or the present. Just worried about our future, "bigly". | Do read, comment and discuss. Share but beware! | Word Count: 2033 | Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 4 |
In the seventh chapter of B2B, we explore the incident of Shabari and her offered meal of wild berries. I have tried to denote two different languages (or dialects) by the use of different font colours, as well as grammatical structures. (Makes sense if you read them out loud. Apologies!) I do not state in any way that this ever happened! But sadly on 25th December 1968, something heinous did happen in Kizhavenmani village, in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, INDIA. Link is embedded in the post (in a font size hard to miss) for those who would not be averse to know. | Do read, comment and discuss. Share but beware! | Word Count: 2371 | Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: 2.3 |
Random Mythoscopy 